Lexington, KY - In a recent legislative committee meeting in Frankfort, I had the opportunity to speak for the Kentucky Chamber about the need for a smoking policy for public places in Kentucky. In a humorous moment, Rep. Tom Burch recounted his past effort to introduce a similar bill more than 25 years ago. The bill was sent to the House agriculture committee, which at the time was heavily influenced by Kentucky's tobacco industry. As he got up to speak on behalf of the bill, "every member of the committee lit up a cigarette." The bill, of course, went up in smoke.
Burch noted that his failed attempt represented a much different time in the commonwealth. Smoking was socially acceptable, its health risks were understated, tobacco industries employed thousands of Kentuckians and many people, including some members of my own family, relied on income from farming tobacco. At that time, the Kentucky Chamber would not have been advocating policies to limit smoking.
However, after years of warnings from the surgeon general and medical associations and thousands of Kentuckians' lives lost to lung cancer, Kentucky's attitudes about enacting policies to limit cigarette smoke have changed. And so have the attitudes of Kentucky's business community.
Much of this shift in thinking can be attributed to the overwhelming evidence that exposure to secondhand smoke is nearly as dangerous as smoking. In 2006, after years of studies, the surgeon general issued a report declaring there is no safe level of secondhand smoke, and the only way to fully protect non-smokers from exposure to indoor secondhand smoke is to prevent all smoking in indoor spaces.
During that same committee meeting, a Vietnam veteran testified that his father, a nonsmoker, died of lung cancer after volunteering for 10 years at a smoke-filled church bingo hall. While the personal impact of nonsmokers contracting smoking-related diseases is heartbreaking enough, the financial toll on business and government is also enormous.
With nearly a quarter of Kentuckians still smoking (the second highest rate in the country), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has estimated smoking-related health expenditures cost Kentucky more than $1.7 billion annually, and the smoking-attributable economic productivity loss at more than $2.6 billion.
Employers are not only dealing with higher health care costs for employees who smoke and are exposed to secondhand smoke, but also significantly higher rates of absenteeism. The business community can no longer ignore the effect smoking has on our insurance premiums and on our tax bills.
Smoking is not only killing us, it is bankrupting us - both in terms of costs to business and medical costs to taxpayers.
The Kentucky Chamber did not come to its position of supporting a statewide smoking law until our members called for it. More than 70 percent of our Chamber members who responded to a 2011 policy survey supported a comprehensive smoking law (i.e., one that prohibits smoking in public places including the workplace, restaurants and bars with no exemptions). Another 15 percent wanted some other form of smoking law. Only 9 percent of members said they opposed all forms of a statewide law. The chamber's Health and Wellness Policy Council, comprising business leaders across the state, has unanimously endorsed the idea of a statewide smoking policy.
Comprehensive laws or ordinances have been passed in 23 states and 19 Kentucky communities, including Louisville and Lexington and covering a major portion of Kentucky's population. Despite concerns from some in the hospitality industry, numerous studies across the country have shown that smoke-free laws do not have a negative economic impact, and in many cases have a positive one. Smoke-free laws not only protect the rights of nonsmokers to breath clean air, but also help smokers quit smoking. In fact, since its smoke-free law took effect, Lexington saw no loss in employment and an estimated savings of $21 million per year in health-care costs because of a decrease in adult smokers.
Opponents of smoke-free laws often point to the importance of individual property rights of business owners and their ability to go smoke-free if they choose. Moreover, they say consumers have a choice of whether to patronize a smoke-free business. We agree property rights are sacred and any attempt to remove these rights should be carefully scrutinized. However, as the Kentucky Supreme Court has held, smoke-free laws are not an improper infringement of property rights but are instead within the purview of protecting public health. And while consumers may have a choice, nonsmoking workers - particularly in this down economy - often do not.
The body of evidence on smoking and its negative impact on public health and the economy are too significant to ignore. Fortunately, the Kentucky General Assembly has made great strides in recent years to combat our state's addiction to smoking, from raising the cigarette tax twice to giving private companies the right to offer lower-priced health plans to non-smokers without fear of litigation.
The Kentucky Chamber commends our legislative leaders for taking these and other important steps, but we can't stop short of the ultimate goal - making sure the current proposal for a statewide smoking law doesn't go up in smoke.
Dave Adkisson is president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.